Language Use in a Midsummer Night's Dream
The use of language in the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains that of literary elements that correspond with one another in accordance to the personalities of each character in the play therefore the production of the play itself. Shakespeare’s style of concealing poetic dialogue with ordinary words and phrases contributes to the characterization of the play. Dialogues, slangs, insults and thoughts are all portrayed as contemporary elements used for the different writing styles of the characters to bring about the situations that each one of them are facing. However, this technique Shakespeare uses does not separate the thought of love being portrayed, as it only demonstrates the different scenarios that the fairies, mechanicals and lovers go through. The fairies in the play are seen as mythical beings greater than that of the ordinary man, and are therefore given dialogues different from the humans in the play. Oberon is given a very bombastic language style. In Act Two Scene One, Oberon says “Tarry, rash wanton! Am not I thy lord?” (Line 63) resembles that of an aggressive and pompous man. Another style he is given is his rhetoric style of speech as shown when he persistently demands for Titania’s Indian boy. Nevertheless, sometimes his more subtle mood contradicts his rhetoric behavior as demonstrated when he tries to “fix” the love between Demetrius and Helena. This somewhat develops the thought that only a fictional man can be so bipolar. Other fairies such as puck are given a very mischievous behavior therefore his dialogues give the sense of immaturity. Shakespeare gives Titania the ability to be reasonable as shown when she and Oberon are arguing in Act Two Scene One “Set your heart at rest. The fairy land buys not the child of me” (Lines 123-124). Titania’s sense of reasoning in her speeches is still unchanged even when she is under Oberon’s spell. These all contribute to the plot of the play as three different styles of languages are used in the